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Is marijuana tax revenue going where voters intended?

According to the audit, there hasn’t been any public reporting on about 94% of the total cannabis tax allocations, which is about $7.7 million.

Morgan Romero

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Published: 8:26 AM PDT July 23, 2019
Updated: 4:58 PM PDT July 23, 2019

From growing in his garage to growing his own business, Jesce Horton knows first-hand the struggle of being an African American man trying to make it in the ever-growing legal cannabis landscape.

“Access to capital is the biggest hurdle for people of color in the industry,” Horton said.

A self-described “cannabis connoisseur,” Horton recently started LOWD, a newly-licensed recreational cannabis cultivation facility in Portland. The operation is currently undertaking its first harvest.

A successful engineer in Florida prior to diving into the weed world in Oregon, Horton grows craft cannabis with help from family and friends.

“I don't think I've had the same amount of success on the other end when it comes to fundraising, when it comes to getting financial support in order to continue to grow,” Horton said.

Credit: KGW
Jesce Horton (right)

Horton also knows first-hand how the prior criminalization of cannabis hit minority communities especially hard. He says after his dad was accepted to college he was caught with an ounce of cannabis. Instead of spending four years in college, his father spent seven years in prison.

Horton was arrested a few times for having pot on him, too.

“It really had a big effect on my future at the time, my self-esteem.”

He feels it’s time more people of color have seats at the table; not just because it’s the right thing, but because there is an opportunity to grow the industry the right way.

“We've really done a lot of people a disservice and in general cannabis prohibition has done the whole country a disservice. So if we have the opportunity to make things right I think we have to do it,” Horton added.

Portland voters seem to agree that the city needs to make things right.

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